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Using ChicagoAncestors.org to Locate Church Records

Posted on March 14, 2012

What type of information does ChicagoAncestors have about churches, synagogues and other houses of worship?

The Newberry’s “Guide to Chicago Churches and Synagogues,” contains information on a large number of Chicago churches, including location, details about where the records are kept (Family History Lilbrary film numbers where applicable), and citations to published works on that church.. Thanks to the work of several dedicated volunteers, this information has all been geo-located onto the ChicagoAncestors map.

ChicagoAncestors lets you search for the churches of your ancestors in a variety of ways.

1) To browse by denomination, click on the “collection” option on the Browse page. Scroll down the list of collections and select the denomination you’re interested in. Click the submit button. Then click the “+” to see the expanded list of churches and their locations on the map. Click on the name of a church or it’s location to view the detailed information.

2) To search by address or intersection, use the address field on the Search page. Select a radius between a half mile and three miles. The denominations with houses of worship in the area will be listed under the “Religious Institutions” category. Expand the list to see the names and locations for the churches within that area. (Note that you need to use current-day addresses and street names.)

3) If you know the name of the institiution, you can use the keyword field on the Search page. Fill in at least part of the name. (You must use full words - no wildcards.) For example, the results for the keyword “Lourdes” would include two churches named “Our Lady of Lourdes”.

4) Do a keyword search using ethnicity and/or denomination. For example, search for “Swedish Lutheran” or “Irish Catholic”.

If you know of churches we’ve missed, please consider either adding them yourself or submitting the information to us (use the Contact link). Also consider adding tags and comments. Share your knowledge and help your fellow researchers!

In the 1914 Chicago City Directory, Rev. John G. Nuetzel, Pastor of Gethsemane German Lutheran Church, lived at 4927 S. Wabash. The church itself is listed as being at 49th St. and Dearborn. For more details, see: http://www.elca.org/Who-We-Are/History/ELCA-Archives/Genealogy-and-Microfilm/Lutheran-Churches-in-Chicago/Germans/Missouri-Synod.aspx

The Zion Evangelical Reformed Church of Auburn Park was organized in 1887 and the first building was located at 80th Street and Normal Avenue. A newer church was erected at 8326 Green in 1924 while Rev. Alfred Menzel was still pastor. ("Church Plans to Celebrate 75th Jubilee." Chicago Daily Tribune (1923-1963), Feb 18 1962, p. SW12)